Marazzi Sailing trains in Valencia

The quiz we posted earlier today was apparently quite easy. Two of our readers almost instantaneously had the correct answer. The team is the newly-founded Marazzi Sailing and the boat is the 2008 Artemis TP52.

Marazzi Sailing is led by Swiss Star champion Flavio Marazzi and German Olympic and America's Cup champion Jochen Schuemann and flies the colors of the Gstaad Yacht Club. They have been training for a week in Valencia with a crew that comes mainly from the former Platoon and Team Germany with the addition of sailors from other teams, such as John Cutler, former tactician on Desafío.

The team was formally presented on Wednesday in Zurich and an official press release will provide all the details of this brand new TP52 team. In the meantime, we publish a selection of photos from their training in Valencia.

Marazzi Sailing carries out first training. Valencia, 4 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Marazzi Sailing

Marazzi Sailing carries out first training. Valencia, 4 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Marazzi Sailing

Marazzi Sailing carries out first training. Valencia, 4 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Marazzi Sailing

Marazzi Sailing carries out first training. Valencia, 4 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Marazzi Sailing

Marazzi Sailing carries out first training. Valencia, 4 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Marazzi Sailing

Marazzi Sailing carries out first training. Valencia, 4 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Marazzi Sailing

Marazzi Sailing carries out first training. Valencia, 4 May 2009. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Marazzi Sailing

It's over for TP52 Platoon while Team Germany faces problems

According to the German sailing magazine Yacht, the German America's Cup team is sadly a fresh victim of the financial crisis as AUDI decided to stop its support of the "Platoon, powered by Team Germany" project. The owner of the only German team in the TP52 racing circuit, Harm Müller Spreer, is not willing to bear the burden of a 2009 campaign on his own and as a result the planned construction of a new TP52 yacht has stopped. The 2008-generation boat has already been sold to Bigamist, the Portuguese team.

Jochen Schuemann, skipper of the team, expressed his disappointment about AUDI's decision. The new contracts were about to be signed, all parties had good intentions, but as the financial crisis spread a big sponsorship deal was abandoned.

"We were just a small part," says Schuemann, but that didn't change the outcome. "We only had a one-year contract, which had to be renegotiated". The title sponsorship of the AUDI Medcup series remain intact as the contract runs for three years.

Platoon racing in the first event of the 2008 AUDI Medcup. Alicante, 14 May 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

That was the second serious blow for Schuemann within a short period. A week ago the planned participation in the Louis Vuitton Pacific Series in Auckland had to be abandoned, victim of cutbacks. The potential sponsors withdrew their commitment for an estimated budget of 400,000 euros.

The German America's Cup ambitions have also come to a screeching halt. Alinghi and the rest of challengers have so far held three meetings in Geneva, discussing the rules and regulations of the 33rd America's Cup. Schuemann was only present in the first one and didn't attend the other two.

The Platoon project had a good performance this year, finishing 5th in the AUDI Medcup circuit and 3rd in the TP52 World Championship in Puerto Calero. "We simply do not come to a common denominator while making an assessment of the situation," explained the German skipper on the discussions with the management of United Internet. "But I do not give up. We will continue to try everything in order to have a good German team at the start of the next cup", concluded Schuemann. United Internet will only start considering discussions for a German AC team when certainty exists.

Meanhwile in Valencia...

Valencia Sailing is back in earnest, reporting from what used to be the world's sailing capital, during a week that is probably the busiest inside Port America's Cup since a long time. We counted a total of 11 yachts either sailing off Valencia's coast or docked in one of the bases, although none of them was an America's Cup boat, in the strict sense of the word.

There are now 6 Extreme 40 yachts, 3 belonging to Alinghi, 2 to BMW Oracle and another to Holmatro. In addition, 5 TP52 teams use the existing bases and facilities in order to fit their yachts or train in view of the imminent start of the Audi MedCup.

The Defender of the 33rd America's Cup and the Challenger of Record continue their daily schedule of catamaran training, under excellent wind conditions. If only we could turn back the clock 12 months in order to enjoy the constant strong breeze of the last few weeks during the Louis Vuitton Cup last year. In addition to these 4 catamarans, another one has been purchased by Alinghi for the iShares Extreme 40 Cup while the 6th one is of Team Holmatro.

One of Alinghi's two training catamarans enters the canal while on the back, Terry Hutchinson's TP52 Quantum Racing is training under excellent conditions. The construction crews are working round the clock to finish the F1 race track. Valencia, 7 May 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

Port America's Cup is also busy with the TP52 fleet. Desafío has been training since a number of days now and has been recently joined by Terry Hutchinson's Quantum Racing. Not only is the American sailor's boat sharing Desafío's facilities, Hutchinson will also helm the green boat when Paul Cayard is not avaible.

Peter de Ridder's Mean Machine is using the Emirates Team NZ base, while freshly arrived are the Platoon and Artemis TP52 yachts, in the UITG and BMW Oracle bases respectively. Mean Machine has also been sailing in Valencia for a few days; Artemis was already launched but we don't know whether it has sailed. Finally, the Platoon yacht was masted a couple of hours after we took the photos.

The Platoon TP52 boat in the United Internet Team Germany base. Valencia, 7 May 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The Platoon TP52 boat in the United Internet Team Germany base. Valencia, 7 May 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing

The Quantum Racing TP52 boat berthed in the Desafío base. Valencia, 7 May 2008. Photo copyright Pierre Orphanidis / Valencia Sailing